1. Field of Invention
This invention relates to an integrated system that provides an enhanced analogue of interactive voice response structures and functions (IVR) for mobile phones and similar devices. Despite the extensive deployment of these IVR systems in business establishments and organizations, there is a near universal level of frustration and outright disgust regarding the inefficiency and tediousness of using IVR and its related features.
All callers generally detest or simply do not have the time to listen through several minutes of a complex series of pre-recorded verbal instructions, most especially if the caller only requires immediate and direct access to a particular party or information.
For example, when a blackout or water outage occurs in a county, several hundred people will usually call into the county's utilities management office to inquire as to what happened and when regular electrical or water service shall be restored. In such scenarios, all available telephone lines (and IVR functionality) will usually be jammed with hundreds of increasingly frustrated callers who require essentially the same set of information.
Caller frustration levels with IVR systems rise exponentially during medical emergencies, fire and other life-threatening disasters. There is clearly then a long-felt, long-existing and unsolved need to address well-known and rightly justified public frustration with IVR systems and its related features, since such efforts can directly result in not just added convenience, but also the preservation of life and property.
2. Description of Prior Art
There are known numerous systems that relate to the enhancement of wireless and landline communication functionality, including associated network elements, Internet interoperability, and automated user interfaces such as interactive voice response (IVR) devices that complement generally proprietary private automatic branch exchange (PABX) telephony equipment.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,928,156 discloses an automated operator assistance with menu options that allows a subscriber to implement and access telecommunications services, using a graphical user interface (GUI) via the Internet, but requires an IVR system to provide its services, whereas the present invention does not.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,917,911 discloses a IVR system that utilizes three levels of navigation with musical tones, for presenting information units arranged in sets, which is not implemented in the present invention.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,885,733 discloses a method for providing a user interface for audio telecommunication systems, whereas the present invention encompasses multimedia communications.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,823,370 discloses a system and method for retrieving select web content which collects desired search results and passes them to an IVR (Interactive Voice Response) system for presentation to the POTS/Cellular caller, that facilitates search request interpretation and Web searches by a trained operator, using a visual PC based browser, whereas the present invention is not mean for merely searching web content, neither does it require an IVR system to operate.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,745,021 discloses a system, controller and method for alerting mobile subscribers about emergency situations, whereas the present invention supports two-way communications and structures emergency communications into a context-sensitive data stream so that recipients are not flooded with unrelated information.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,788,770 discloses an ‘intelligent’ voice response (IVR) unit coupled to a public switched telephone network (PSTN) provides predetermined services to a user according to an IVR menu, whereas the present invention does not require IVR equipment, neither is its operation limited to PSTN, rather the present invention primarily operates in the realm of IP networks and provides access mainly using wireless mobile communications networks.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,631,186 discloses a system and method for implementing and accessing call forwarding services, whereas the present invention is not limited to call forwarding, neither is primary communication directed at IVR systems.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,587,822 discloses a web-based platform for interactive voice response (IVR) applications over the Internet and is primarily directed at a speech synthesizer, a grammar generator and a speech recognizer equipment, whereas the present invention is not primarily about the implementation of voice recognition technology.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,456,699 discloses a way for developing IVR menus using web-based applications, whereas the present invention is does not require IVR equipment and is not involved in any way in the creation of IVR menus.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,404,880 discloses a method and apparatus for delivering critical information that involves the use of IVR, PSTN networks and cellular phones and email, whereas the present invention is not limited to merely sending messages and is designed to provide context-sensitive information with two-way interaction.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,353,608 discloses a customer host connect gateway that connects any Interactive Voice Response (IVR) platform with any customer host computer, whereas the present invention functions independently of such IVR platforms.